Will I get Night Owl points for quitting but not as much for getting fired?Will I still be a member of the Owl's Pals? I'd hate to turn in my card. It's got a real owl feather under the lamination and everything.

Night Owl: Oh, indeed. I quit many a job ...better than being fired. You can keep your card... in fact, you get double points for quitting!

My father's had two hernia surgeries, JC. Good luck and I hope you don't do any heavy lifting in your job. They restrict you for a couple months after the surgery.

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All right, I’ve been thinking, when life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man whose gonna burn your house down – with the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!

I asked for the Weird Al song to be played in the OR while they worked, all I got was a sour frown from the nurses. They gave me a terrible case of razor burn, I wonder what they have against me and Mr. Yankovic.

Ok, since I've been gone for so long, I'll give you the short version:

As some of you will know, about 3 years ago I had a significant brain melt-down at work and have been (to a greater or lesser extent) on stress leave ever since. I went back to the office for a year or so (graduated return to work) but my mental health steadily degraded again.

In an attempt to return to productive employment, I have decided (at 32 years of age) to become an electrician. I have just completed a pre-vocational TAFE course (Technical and Further Education) which will count as the theory side of the first year of my apprenticeship. Top of the class all the way, which doesn't really matter because it's graded on a pass/fail system only. Also, for the most part, I was competing with 17 year olds. I'm still looking for employment (a process which is made somewhat more difficult due to the red-tape involved in satisfying my previous employer) and have applied for a job with one of the major energy suppliers in Australia.

As an aside, there seems to be a trend here over the last few years of older guys looking for trade apprenticeships. From the employer side, opinion seems to be split in two over this. One side like the younger kids because they don't have to pay them as much. The other side prefer the older guys because they tend to work harder and smarter.

On the home front, I've just bought a house with my fiance (whom I don't think I've mentioned here before) so I'm staring down the barrel of a quiet family life (wife, more kids, mortgage, etc) and absolutely loving it. My son (from a previous marriage) is now 9 years old and stays with me half the time (a week with me, a week with his mother) which is working out exceptionally well.

So, other than a total mental collapse (which, luckily has been mostly funded by insurance) life is GOOD!

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You know what Freud says : You gotta think twice before you penis.--Solwyn

Hey all. This new board is awesome and super nostalgic, which makes me pretty happy. It is also totally dark like my soul, lolz. It might be funny that the layout is called sullen madness, I guess. I just found out a couple weeks ago that I am schizophrenic. It's a little more shocking than hearing, say, "You have allergies." Oh man! I remember the old days when I thought my perceptions were real! Anyway, I'm still doing a ton of creative things, and it turns out that there are these drugs now for what I have (pharmaceutical ones-- pshh) that actually work pretty well, so I'm mostly just grateful to be alive. It's also pretty neat that the UV still exists. Groovy. Keen.

I just found out a couple weeks ago that I am schizophrenic. It's a little more shocking than hearing, say, "You have allergies." Oh man! I remember the old days when I thought my perceptions were real! Anyway

If I'm prying to much into personal info, I apologize and you don't have to answer, but I'm genuinely curious as to how the schizophrenia manifested iteself. (I.e. Were you hearing voices? Seeing things that weren't there? A little bit of both?)

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All right, I’ve been thinking, when life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man whose gonna burn your house down – with the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!

I just found out a couple weeks ago that I am schizophrenic. It's a little more shocking than hearing, say, "You have allergies." Oh man! I remember the old days when I thought my perceptions were real! Anyway

If I'm prying to much into personal info, I apologize and you don't have to answer, but I'm genuinely curious as to how the schizophrenia manifested iteself. (I.e. Were you hearing voices? Seeing things that weren't there? A little bit of both?)

I was hallucinating with all 5 senses actually, and had to be committed to a mental hospital in Fremont, Cali. It was related to having PTSD over what happened in New Orleans 3-4 months ago. That and I just hold on to everything like a retarded Camel, anyway.

I just found out a couple weeks ago that I am schizophrenic. It's a little more shocking than hearing, say, "You have allergies." Oh man! I remember the old days when I thought my perceptions were real! Anyway

If I'm prying to much into personal info, I apologize and you don't have to answer, but I'm genuinely curious as to how the schizophrenia manifested iteself. (I.e. Were you hearing voices? Seeing things that weren't there? A little bit of both?)

I was hallucinating with all 5 senses actually, and had to be committed to a mental hospital in Fremont, Cali. It was related to having PTSD over what happened in New Orleans 3-4 months ago. That and I just hold on to everything like a retarded Camel, anyway.

Gotcha. Well, good to hear you're doing better. And I'll have to look at the lonely codependent hemophiliac robot picture on Sunday when I get back home since work blocks flickr and I'll be at my girlfriend's this weekend. I'm seeing Dream Theater perfrom tonight and then she's dragging me to Wizard Con (comic book convention) tomorrow and then we'll probably see Order of the Phoenix at IMAX tomorrow night.

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All right, I’ve been thinking, when life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man whose gonna burn your house down – with the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!

Nah, it's been tough. 5:00-23:00 for 4 days and then 7:00-15:00 today, got dismissed, ran for the train and now a nice weekend with coffee (NOT TEA!) to relax, chill out and recouperate before it's back on monday. Next week will be as hellish as well, but in the field and with shooting practice, so it'll be slightly more fun and a lot less marching. My paws are very happy about that.

The 9 guys I share a room with are great. Looking forward to two weeks ahead of now with regular days (7:00-16:00) when we can go out and grab some beers together, chill and get a little more time to know oneanother than we've had so far. Defo glad to be back in uniform though, but I hope the temps drop a little, clear skies and 25+ degrees celcius is bitch in uniform.

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Solwyn:Sorry to anyone here with a business degree, but I don't trust or like any of you.

things are teh good with me. especially last night, were i got to see the King himself, BRUCE CAMPBELL, do a Q&A after my third time seeing Evil Dead: The Musical (no splatter zone this time, but it's still fun). he's really funny in person and was constantly zinging the audience... he even had some cups of fake blood to splash people with, hehe.

i was going to go out of town next weekend to do special effects make-up on a friend's short film, but due to scheduling conflicts (i work full time in the summer, and most of the shooting is being done on Wednesday), i'm more than likely going to have to just send my friend a quick crash course on how to do all the things he's going to need. still, he said he'd give me a credit anyway